Saturday, January 24, 2015

Now why on earth would Bibi breach protocol and not advise Big Guy that John Boehner invited him to speak to Congress in March? I suppose it might be that he disagrees with Barry’s position on not imposing additional sanctions against Iran. Maybe he has taken umbrage with Barry and the Brit Twit for boasting abouttheir lobbying of Congress against additional sanctions. Or perhaps he’s not confident that Big Guy’s awesome diplomatic skills are adequate to get Iran to give up their nuclear weapon ambitions just because he’s willing to negotiate with Tehran without preconditions.

Or maybe this is why Bibi wishes to address the American Congress directly:

Iran has built a 27-meter-long missile, capable of delivering a warhead “far beyond Europe,” and placed it on a launch pad at a site close to Tehran, an Israeli television report said Wednesday. – Doug Ross

The Obama administration reportedly is fuming over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to address Congress in March regarding the Iranian threat, with one unnamed official telling an Israeli newspaper he will pay “a price” for the snub.

“He spat in our face publicly and that's no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price."

I hate to be the one to bring this up, butt we do all remember who started this “chicken sh*t” fight, don’t we? I mean, it isn’t really proper protocol to call your ally “chicken sh*t” either, is it? – Washington Examiner

A senior Obama administration official recently described the Israeli prime minister as “chickenshit,” according to Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic.

Based on a transcript of the conversation, obtained by Israel’s channel 1, Obama “behaved in a rude, condescending and hostile manner,” the network’s foreign correspondent concluded.

And some people might consider it a failure of protocol to ignore a request by an ally to visit when he’s traveled half way around the world:

… An official in Jerusalem said that the Prime Minister's Office sent the White House a message stating that although Netanyahu will spend only two and a half days on U.S. soil, he is interested in meeting Obama and is willing to travel to the U.S. capital specifically for that purpose. The official added that the White House rejected the request and said that at this time Obama's schedule does not allow for a meeting. – Telegraph

Especially when BHO did find time to go on one of the late night talk shows during the same time frame.

And I’m quite sure that leaving your guest cooling his heels in a conference room while while you go off in a huff to “have dinner with your family” is not considered proper international protocol.

For a head of state to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of… - Hot Air

Butt let me be clear: protocol is for the little people. We don’t need no stinkin’ protocol.

Israel’s Army Radio, via the Jerusalem Post, reports that local sources claim U.S. President Barack Obama arranged the leak of a Mossad report on the Iran nuclear talks as an act of revenge against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for agreeing to speak to Congress in February about radical Islam and the Iranian threat.

By the way, does anyone know what the proper protocol is for spying on television reporters, using the IRS to harass political opponents, deceiving the public about the nature of an attack on our embassy, lying about being able to keep your doctor and healthcare plan, and flooding America with diseased people from foreign countries?

Not clear on the others, butt Moonbattery certainly thinks BO’s handling of the Iran thing is anything butt correct:

"There is a line between incompetence and treason. Whether Jimmy Carter crossed it by withdrawing support for our ally the Shah and thereby helping the current Iranian government to power is debatable. With Obama [and the media], it is an easier call."

Friday, January 23, 2015

Welcome to another evening at MOTUS’ Twilight Nocturne Lounge, where we enjoy good friends, good beverages and great music. Tonight, I’m shamelessly promoting BFF Jill’s (Pundette of Pundit & Pundette) new Sinatra Centenary website. In case you haven’t visited yet, and I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t have, here’s why you want to:

“In honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frank Sinatra, I've compiled a list of my 100 favorite Sinatra recordings. I'll post a couple a week until Frank's birthday on December 12th.”

In addition to the songs, Pundette provides commentary, personal stories and insights. She also has links to Mark Steyn’s “Sinatra Century” which is pretty generous of her, seeing as how he obviously stole the idea from her. Butt I guess there are so many great Sinatra songs that they can easily keep several blogs going all year.

So, in honor of the Sinatra Centenary, and to get you in the proper mood after another week inside the flak jacket, Little Mo and I have put together a few of our favorite Ol’ Blue Eyes songs, and selected Frank’s favored libation for tonight’s official drink. Frank considered it “a gentleman’s drink” so rest assured it’s no longer served in the White House.

According to Nancy Sinatra her father drank “Jack Daniels with water and 3 ice cubes.”

“‘Always Jack Daniel’s on ice,’ Gower says. Frank loved Jack and Jack loved Frank. Their union lasted longer than most marriages, Frank’s included – over 50 years in total..”

Sinatra so favored Old No.7 that Jack Daniels produced a special edition Sinatra Select:

Indeed, according to legend Frank was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniels slipped into his pocket. I don’t think we want anybody here to go that far. Butt if you are inclined please order a tumbler, two fingers of Jack and some ice cubes – the water and third cube are optional if it’s been a really rough week.

And remember: no chugging, no matter what kind of week you’ve had. Frank liked to remind people that it was a “gentleman’s drink” and to properly enjoy it, according to the Bourbon Baritone, one had to “…sip it with some class. You’re a man not a G-D DAMN FRAT BOY.” Probably another case of do what I say not what I do, butt it would still serve as good advice for the frat boys and sorority sisters running the Big White.

So there you have it; nod at Little Mo when you’re ready - he knows what you want - ease back and enjoy the evening with me, Little Mo, our FOM Rat Pack and Ol’ Blue Eyes. It don’t get no more better than that.

“Set me up again Little Mo, and make it a double. I’ve got a long journey ahead.”

I think I’ve loaded up enough tunes for the whole happy hour, butt should you run out hit rewind, just in time. I confess that the first selection is my personal all-time Sinatra favorite, and seeing how many January birthdays we’ve got around here, it seems most appropriate. Enjoy, butt remember: if you’re going to drink and blog please blog responsibly.

“It Was A Very Good Year” – Music & Lyrics by Ervin Drake

“Luck Be A Lady” – Music & Lyrics by Frank Loesser

“That Old Feeling” – Music by Sammy Fain & Lyrics by Lew Brown

“Young At Heart” - Music by Johnny Richards & Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh

“In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning” – Music by David Mann & Lyrics by Bob Hilliard

Yesterday was the official kick-off of the 2015 Sundance Festival. And good news, Robert Redford is still heading it up. So – for whoever requested new pictures of wrinkly old Bob – I’ve got you covered! In fact, take your pick:

man spreading

Hollywood folding

Bobby obviously doesn’t own a comb, since he’s still workin’ that boyish tousled hair look. Butt I think we can all agree that he’s had a bit of machine grooming (dermabrasion, Botox, fillers). While still age-appropriately weathered, at least his face doesn’t look like crater lake any more. So there’s that.

And just trust me; it is an improvement.

circa 2010

So children, learn this well, liberalism is very dangerous: *sigh*

The Way We Were

Well, that’s all I’ve got time for today; I’ve got houseguests to tend to. I’ll have to get back to you later on what deviancies and perversions will be highlighted in this year’s lineup.

If you’re interested, Little Mo and I will be available this evening from 6:00-8:00 pm EST to host a special edition of the MOTUS Twilight Nocturne Lounge. Maybe that will help work out some of the bumps and lumps incurred from another week in Wonderland. Let me know if you’re in.

You probably remember my coverage of last year’s first, historic annual BBC day, “The Cheese Stands Alone.” If you missed it for any reason it’s worth a revisit, plus that way you can bring yourselves up to speed on the historic significance of this adolescent awesome event.

Briefly, it is the reenactment of a television show’s reenactment of an open house hosted by President Andrew Jackson in 1837. He invited the public to mingle with cabinet members and White House staffers and served them all delicious cheese from a giant 1,400-pound wheel of cheddar. Only now of course the public spectacle is conducted over social media and the cheese is virtual as there are multiple ways of getting real government cheese through other programs.

Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to help you!

This year’s event seems to have lost some of the luster since its initial launch last year; it’s now been reduced to a series of really, really bad cheese puns.

Unfortunately we had to cancel the crowning of the 2nd Annual Big White “Big Cheese” of the day because when the election results were in, and they indicated that John Boehner won, there were immediate charges of voter fraud.

“It ain't easy bein' cheesy"®

Additionally, many people allege that the only reason he won was because of the color of his skin.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Well that was a spectacle to end all; words fail me. Butt not Big Guy, his words – and he had plenty of them – shined like a million points of spite.

I was up all night trying to figure out how best to summarize the SOTU for those of you who were too busy to watch it for yourself. Succinctly: it was 50 pounds of bullshit crammed into a 1 pound doggie poo bag.

Butt before getting into any of the insignificant points of the speech allow me to comment on a couple of the more superficial aspects of the evening: First, I noticed that Big Guy decided to go with the full-metal gray hair for his Big Read. I believe it added gravitas:

And now, on to the more substantive stuff. It struck me that only a complete narcissist would take a victory lap after his team came in last; and wink at you as he does so.

“That’s right, I WON!” Deal with it.

Next, if you’re going to pat yourself on the back for having done such a bang up job on the economy you probably shouldn’t turn around and whine about an "economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well" - as if your policies have nothing to do with the lowest labor participation rate since Jimmy Carter, 30 hour work weeks, wage stagnation and under reported inflation.

Then Big Guy laid out some newly discovered constitutional rights – free child care, paid sick leave, increased minimum wage, and free community college tuition - that he wants the “few of us who are doing spectacularly well” to pay for.

And he highlighted several things he’ll veto in the wink of an eye:

So here’s the deal: as long as the Republicans don’t dare pass bills that reverse any part of ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank or Big Guy’s unilateral immigration reforms, we can turn the page and begin to practice some better politics in Washington. Which is to say, if Big Guy continues to get everything he wants we will have a very different atmosphere around here. Because remember, if his fans hadn’t stayed home on the couch during last fall’s midterms, his policies - which were all on the ballot - would have won big.

Oh yeah, and INFRASTRUCTURE!

In summary then I would put this SOTU in the record books as just another nursery rhyme: Wynken, Blynken, and Nod sailed off in a wooden shoe – because “it’s the right thing to do.”

Goodnight from the land of Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night Sailed off in a wooden shoe – Sailed on a river of crystal light Into a sea of dew. "Where are you going, and what do you wish?" The old moon asked the three. "We have come to fish for the herring-fish That live in this beautiful sea; Nets of silver and gold have we!" Said Wynken, Blynken, And Nod.

P.S. I REALLY WANTED TO GET INTO THE “BIG CHEESE” EVENT TODAY, BUTT I GUESS IT WILL JUST HAVE TO WHEY(T) – H/T JTE – TILL TOMORROW.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

You know what they say: the only things you can count on are death and taxes. And with Big Guy’s new plan - scheduled for the big reveal tonight – we get both rolled into WON! That’s right, the retreaded Robin Hood agenda includes new, stiff Grim Reaper taxes. So if you didn’t earn that yourself, you’ll have to share it with BigGov.com who will redistribute it for you: to the poor - and, if there’s any left after we’ve leveled the playing field for America’s least fortunate, the middle class.

Our current cute-white-guy-spokes-mouth, “Josh” “Ernest” has been practicing reeling our “soak-the-rich” redistribution plan off his tongue at breakneck speed without pausing to breathe.

“Take it from the top,Josh, and this time make it sound sincere…”

Because we’ve discovered if you just keep talking really fast you can avoid difficult questions like “why has the gap between rich and poor in America grown steadily during Big Guy’s term?”

“Because the more you give, the more you get.It’s that simple.”

It’s a simple plan really, and designed to ensure that we never run out of other people’s money.

Butt I’m getting way ahead of myself. For now the only important question is what important designer will Lady M decide to wear tonight? It’s hard to believe we’ve already endured seen 6 of these and are still scheduled to endure see another 2.

From left to right; 2009 in Narciso Rodriguez, 2010 in Issac Mizrahi, 2011 in Rachel Roy, 2012 in Barbara Tfank, 2013 in Jason Wu and 2014 in Azzedine Alaia.

Trust me on this, they all look better from the front than they do from the rear:

I suspect the same will be said of Big Guy’s entire presidency some day, regardless of how you feel now.

So my advice is to either skip the speech, or grab a cold one, some popcorn, and pretend you’re watching Saturday Night Live. Under NO circumstances do I recommend you participate in any version of the popular SOTU drinking game. It could be hazardous to your health.

And trust me on this: getting hammered with MO and BO isn’t as much fun as you might think:

When you wake up you always find you’ve somehow shrunk and stumbled down the rabbit hole again.

Oprah Winfrey, fellow actors from the movie "Selma" and hundreds of others marched to recall one of the bloodiest chapters of the civil rights movement on Sunday, the eve of the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

David Oyelowo, who portrays Martin Luther King Jr. in the movie "Selma," and the Oprah, who produced the film, at yesterday’s Selma memorial march, reacting to being shut out of the Oscar nominations by #AllWhiteHollywood.

It’s hard to imagine what MLK might have thought of yesterday’s march being used to hype the Oprah’s movie and the outrage over racist cops shooting innocent black men all across America:

"We need to be outraged when local law enforcement and the justice system repeatedly allow young, unarmed black men to encounter police and then wind up dead with no consequences," said Clay, a St. Louis Democrat. "Not just in Ferguson, but over and over again across this country."

The irony of the march being headed up by U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay (Black), 8 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Oprah – the richest woman, black or not-black, in America - may have been lost on the organizers. Butt I wonder what MLK might have thought about it:

Meanwhile, Spike Lee, (black Hollywood gazillionaire) who is still smarting from being snubbed by the Oscars 25 years ago for his classic Do the Right Thing, has some advice for “Selma” director Ava DuVernay, based on his understanding of the ongoing racism in America:

Sunday, January 18, 2015

It’s Sunday, the day of rest. So let’s give it a rest for the day – politics I mean. Big Guy’s new Soak The Rich plan can wait for the State of the Union, and the #OscarsSoWhite situation is in Al Sharpton’s capable hands.

So let’s shift gears and talk about the culture-at-large instead; specifically the care and tending of children in this dangerous culture. In The Overprotected Kid, Hanna Rosin argues that “a preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer,” and showcases a special playground in Wales designed to reverse this trend.

In a town in northern Wales an “adventure” playground was built by filling an empty lot with sticks, nails, old tools, tires and empty oil drums: what most people would consider a junk yard. Here kids are allowed to hammer, saw, build stuff, swing across a creek, and even start fires – all with as little adult supervision as possible. It’s messy, dirty and - by most Western parents standards - “insane.”

“Today, these playgrounds are so out of sync with affluent and middle-class parenting norms that when I showed fellow parents back home a video of kids crouched in the dark lighting fires, the most common sentence I heard from them was ‘This is insane.’”

Of course, what’s considered “insane” today was part of a normal childhood just a generation or so ago. It was called “play” not “play dates.” It was how kids learned about the world, how to overcome both physical and mental obstacles, stretch their imagination, explore the unknown, solve seemingly impossible problems; and they did it all in the real world where they would reside for the rest of their lives, not the virtual world of video games.

American film-maker Erin Davis made a documentary about The Land after learning about the adventure playground:

The concept behind playgrounds like the Land is that kids are empowered when they learn to manage risks on their own rather than having their lives micro-managed by helicopter parents from cradle throughtheir first job interview.

It’s hard to absorb how much childhood norms have shifted in just one generation. Actions that would have been considered paranoid in the ’70s—walking third-graders to school, forbidding your kid to play ball in the street, going down the slide with your child in your lap—are now routine.

Norms that are not just “routine” but expected, as Danielle and Alexander Meitiv discovered. They are in hot water after the police picked up their kids, age 6 and 10, while walking home from the park. The Meitivs are now being investigated for child neglect.

The Meitiv kids, engaging in “dangerous behavior,” American style

The Meitivs say they believe in “free-range” parenting, a movement that has been a counterpoint to the hyper-vigilance of “helicopter” parenting, with the idea that children learn self-reliance by being allowed to progressively test limits, make choices and venture out in the world.

Based on their Linked-in profiles I dare say that “free-range” parentsDanielle, a climate-scientist, andAlexander, a physicist at the National Institutes of Health are probably Obama supporters. As we were discussing just yesterday, here’s another example of Proglodytes not understanding that the more you invite the government to interfere with your life, the less freedom you eventually have.

I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it through a whole post without letting politics intrude. Creeping tyranny is like that.

Better to teach your child how to play with fire rather than curse the darkness.